Mike Karns has big plans for El Fenix, Snuffer’s chains

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David Woo/Staff Photographer

Mike Karns, president of Firebird Restaurant Group, owns the El Fenix, Snuffer’s, Meso Maya and Taqueria La Ventana chains. Karns plans to expand from the 32 eateries he now owns: “We’re building a company that can handle 100 restaurants. But certainly we intend to go beyond that.”

Karns, president and owner of Firebird Restaurant Group LLC, has an appetite for local legacy brands that he feels he can restore to their former glory.

“Snuffer’s fits very well within the Firebird family because it’s an old, well-loved Dallas legacy brand that’s been around for 35 years,” Karns says of the seven-unit chain. “It appeals to a broad group. And it’s a brand restoration project and an expansion vehicle for us.”

Next week, the original location of Snuffer’s Restaurant & Bar will reopen under Firebird’s ownership just in time for Greenville Avenue’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities. Karns says he spent three decades downing countless Snuffer’s chicken sandwiches topped with Swiss and baskets of its famous cheddar fries.

He bought El Fenix, thelegendary Tex-Mex chain, in 2008.

Karns also has ideas of his own.

Three years ago, he launched Meso Maya, which serves food from the interior of Mexico, and Taqueria La Ventana, which sells Mexican street food.

Firebird owns 32 restaurants that Karns hopes will bring in $75 million in revenue this year if they hit on all cylinders.

That’s just the foundation, he says, for much bigger things to come.

“We have a ‘Think 100’ mentality at corporate,” Karns says. “We’re building a company that can handle 100 restaurants. But certainly we intend to go beyond that.”

He wants to expand Meso Maya and Snuffer’s in the D/FW area and plans to broaden El Fenix’s reach into East Texas, West Texas and Oklahoma, where he already opened one El Fenix at the WinStar World Casino.

Karns doesn’t have shareholders or partners to satisfy, so there’s no time frame.

“That being said, it will happen sooner rather than later,” he says. “I love concepting and growth.”

Karns, who grew up in Dallas, considers iconic restaurateurs Phil Romano and the late Norman Brinker his role models.

“Norman for building and leading an amazing team, Phil for his visionary thinking, concept creations and overall creativity,” Karns says. “It’s my job to keep my foot on the gas and act as the visionary, strategic builder, pioneer guy who can bring everyone else along with me.”

Karns also owns Karns Commercial Real Estate and is as interested in property as he is in dishing up food. That’s why he was attracted to El Fenix in 2008, when the Martinez family put the company up for sale under the code name Firebird.

“It was the perfect opportunity to buy a legendary brand that had been family-owned for five generations and build a real estate portfolio,” Karns says.

Expanding El Fenix

Karns, who made his money in real estate, paid the family its asking price — more than $30 million in cash — for the chain.

At the time, El Fenix had 15 restaurants generating $33 million in sales and was profitable. This year, Karns says, El Fenix, which has expanded to 22 restaurants, should pull in at least $50 million in sales with a profit margin twice as wide as when he bought it.

All of the original locations have been remodeled. But many of the changes have been behind the scenes, modernizing systems to make operations, food and staffing more cost-efficient.

“We wanted to stay true to the core Tex-Mex products but also reinvigorate and re-energize the menu with broader offerings,” he says. “El Fenix needed to be discovered by a younger guest base and rediscovered by people who’d started trading elsewhere.”

In January, El Fenix launched a $2.95 promotion of its famous frozen margaritas. So far, customers have sucked up more than 100,000 of them. The guest count has gone up along with the margaritas.

The Martinez family had feared that a new owner — especially one in real estate — would close the flagship and sell the land for an office or residential tower. Karns promised the Martinezes that wasn’t his game plan.

Karns threw a bash in September for El Fenix’s 95th anniversary. Alfred Martinez, 89, who still comes to the flagship every Wednesday as a lunchtime ambassador, was also celebrating the fact that Karns kept his word.

“It feels great, to tell you the truth,” said Martinez, one of two surviving children of the founder’s eight. “The people who have it now are doing a tremendous job keeping the way we had it. It still feels like a family.”

Six months after Karns closed the El Fenix deal, Karns bought both of the flagship’s nextdoor neighbors, the Luna Tortilla building and the Hernandez Grocery store. He wanted to launch a concept focused on the fresh flavors of interior Mexican cuisine, something he’d grown to love while traveling south of the border.

Space opened up in a strip center at Preston Road and Forest Lane close to his home in Preston Hollow, so he decided to open the first Meso Maya there and work out the kinks. That restaurant opened in August 2011. The downtown Meso Maya and the outdoor Taqueria La Ventana behind it opened in December 2012.

Meso Maya is proving to be a big hit.

“We’ve electrified this block with the three different concepts together — price, category and flavor that work side by side,” Karns says.

His restaurants sit strategically on the footpath between Klyde Warren Park and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. “The pedestrian traffic is huge,”Karns says. “We can be busy in our restaurants for lunch and have plenty of parking spaces because so many people walk.”

Last year, Firebird acquired six bankrupt Snuffer’s restaurants by assuming $3 million in debt.

“We expected Snuffer’s to be a happy transaction,” Karns says. “But it turned out a little different than that.”

Suit over Snuffer’s

Karns and Pat Snuffer got crosswise legally over Snuffer’s plans for the Greenville Avenue location, which wasn’t part of the bankruptcy deal.

Snuffer demolished the funky burger joint that he opened in 1978 and was about to reopen in a new building as Pat’s Burgers & Cheddar Fries. Karns sued, saying Pat’s was a reincarnation and an infringement of the Snuffer’s brand that Karns now owns. They settled out of court, and Karns got the keys to the new building.

“I like Pat,” Karns says. “He’s a great guy. It’s an unfortunate situation for him.”

Losing his namesake restaurants is clearly bittersweet for Snuffer, but the popular restaurateur says he wishes the new owners success.

“I spent 35 years building the brand,” Snuffer says. “Now that someone else has taken it over, there’s still a feeling of, of, well you know…”

His voice trails off. “It’s somebody else’s baby, and that fine.”

Snuffer and his son, Mike, are planning to launchPat’s Burgers with a few new menu twists and lessons learned. “We wish Snuffer’s all the best in the world and trust that they wish us the same,” Snuffer says. “There’s room enough in town for everybody where burgers are concerned — that’s for sure.”

Frank Knight, who previously ran the Snuffer’s in Preston Center, is the general manager of Greenville Avenue, where he started as a server 22 years ago.

“Snuffer’s and Greenville Avenue are one and the same,” Knight says. “Everybody knows Snuffer’s. My mother lived in North Carolina, and I’d give her T-shirts and hats. She’d be on a flight and people would go, ‘Oh, my God! Cheddar fries!’ It’s an addiction and a Dallas institution.”

Now that Karns has Tex-Mex, interior Mexican and all-American restaurants, what’s next?

“There’s not really a category that we’re seeking out,” he says. “If there’s good fit for Firebird Restaurant Group, we’re definitely built as an acquisition machine.”

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About Cheryl Hall

MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE ON THE JOB: Probably my most memorable event was with President George Bush (father) shortly after his failed bid for re-election. He'd been out of the limelight. I tried to ask him some political questions hoping to get a scoop. But he clapped me on the elbow and said, "Cheryl, one of the true joys of being out of office is I don't have to stand here and be interviewed by you. If you'd like to chat informally, I'd be happy to." I took a big breath, clapped him on the arm and said, "So George, how's the house coming?" He talked about going to Sam's and buying really big jars of spaghetti sauce. I felt like I was in the middle of a Saturday Night Live skit.

Another weird moment was going to a black-tie fete at the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant that was gearing up to be a fresh-food concept. My "date" for the evening was Dallas restaurateur Norman Brinker, who correctly predicted that the concept would never fly.

SOMETHING PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME: I can be both a bleeding heart liberal and a staunch conservative -- sometimes over the same issue.

IF I HAD TWO SPARE HOURS, I WOULD: Spare hours make me nervous. Given a spare year and plenty of money, I'd travel the world with my husband and daughter.

THE GREATEST CHALLENGE TO COVERING BUSINESS IN NORTH TEXAS: Knowing all the hidden connections among the key players.

Hometown: I was born in San Antonio, but as a military brat, I lived in Japan, suburban Washington, D.C., and Louisiana growing up.

Education: I have a bachelor's of fine arts received from Southern Methodist University in 1973.

I came to work for The Dallas Morning News in May 1972 as a summer intern in the business news department and never left -- so I've been here covering business for four decades.